Paul Coffin, the first person convicted of fraud in the federal sponsorship scandal, has received a conditional sentence of two years less a day, to be served in the community.

Coffin, the president of Coffin Communications, must obey a curfew of 9 p.m. on weekdays and must also speak publicly about his experience.

Coffin pleaded guilty to 15 of the 18 counts of fraud laid against him in September 2003. Under the plea agreement reached in May, he admitted to helping defraud the federal government of $1,556,625 between 1997 and 2002.

In August, he told a sentencing hearing that he had repaid $1 million to Ottawa by taking out a mortgage on his home, getting loans from friends and cashing in an RRSP.

"I would like to apologize to all Canadians,'' Coffin told the Montreal court, adding he was ashamed of what he had done.

Crown prosecutor Francois Drolet told the sentencing hearing that he was not impressed by Coffin's testimony and suggested the court send a "clear message'' by sentencing Coffin to 34 months in jail.

Coffin's lawyers suggested a sentence of two years less a day -- the sentence that Coffin received.

The maximum sentence he could have received was 10 years.

The only other two people charged in the sponsorship program are former Groupaction executive Jean Brault and former federal bureaucrat Chuck Guite. Their joint trial is expected to begin on Oct. 3.

The judge in charge of those trials, Justice Fraser Martin, has said he may have to sequester the jury for weeks or delay the trial because of a report due out on the sponsorship scandal.

Justice John Gomery, who headed up the inquiry into the scandal, is due to release his first report on Nov. 1. That could put mean it will come out in the middle of the trial.
It's unlikely that report will be delayed.

Gomery's final report on the scandal has been pushed back six weeks, setting an anticipated release date of Feb. 1. That will affect the timing of a federal election, which Prime Minister Paul Martin has promised to call 30 days after the report goes public.